Education for sustainable development in Portuguese universities

Farinha, Carla Sofia e Sá; Azeiteiro, Ulisses Miranda; Caeiro, Sandra

doi:10.1108/ijshe-09-2017-0168

Cited by 46 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…In Portugal, HEIs do not yet prioritize implementing SD throughout the system and this must therefore be addressed (Aleixo et al, 2018b). Previous studies show a lack of national integrated strategies and policies, plans and programs on the integration of ESD into Portuguese HEI (Farinha et al, 2017) as well as an absence of a centralized system for implementing sustainable in HEIs (Farinha et al, 2018).…”

Section: The Portuguese Scenariomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the lack of both government institutions' commitment to implement ESD in higher education and documents linked to SD, "Portuguese universities´ autonomy and their social responsibility have led them to develop several initiatives and policies toward ESD" (Farinha et al, 2018). Recent studies in Portugal (e.g., Aleixo et al, 2018a) showed that although Portuguese HEIs recognize the need to introduce sustainable competencies and topics in all courses, their vision of how to implement this differs.…”

Section: The Portuguese Scenariomentioning

confidence: 99%

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Are the sustainable development goals being implemented in the Portuguese higher education formative offer?

Aleixo

Azeiteiro

Leal

2020

IJSHE

105

118

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Purpose. The study aims to examine: (a) the vertical integration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) in Portuguese public higher education institutions, namely at the level of undergraduate and master´s degrees, and (b) the extent to which Portuguese higher education institutions are preparing for the United Nations call to promote SDGs.Method. A content analysis of the designations and objectives of the 2556 undergraduate and master's degrees (in 33 Portuguese public higher education institutions) was made to determine whether they promote at least one sustainable development goal.Findings. The results show that: (a) 198 courses directly address at least one SDG; (b) on average, each higher education institution (HEI) has 6 courses that explicitly address at least one SDG; (c) universities have more courses in SDG areas than polytechnics; (d) more master's degrees This work had financial support of Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia Centre

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Section: The Portuguese Scenariomentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Portuguese Scenariomentioning

confidence: 99%

Are the sustainable development goals being implemented in the Portuguese higher education formative offer?

Aleixo

Azeiteiro

Leal

2020

IJSHE

105

118

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“…Communication is a core function of higher education [9]. In terms of ESD coordination and communication at the national level, it should be mentioned that there is an existing gap arising from the lack of ESD at governmental policy and strategy levels either by the Portuguese Government or the Ministry of Public Universities [4,5].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Portugal, earlier research showed that embedding sustainability (the "top-down" approach) is insufficiently developed in Portuguese governmental institutions at university level [4,5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability Strategies in Portuguese Higher Education Institutions: Commitments and Practices from Internal Insights

2019

Self Cite

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The Copernicus Declaration of 1994, which was understood as a commitment to sustainable development (SD) by top management in higher education, was signed by many universities. This signature worked as an important driver for these institutions to put different dimensions of SD principles into practice. In Portugal, a Southern European country, six of the fourteen universities belonging to the Portuguese University Rectors Council signed the declaration, but no attempt has been made to evaluate how these public universities integrated education for sustainable development at policy and strategy levels. This paper presents the results of a study aimed at identifying to what extent the integration of sustainability in the fourteen universities was achieved, through their own strategic and activity plans and activity and sustainability reports. A detailed content analysis was conducted on these plans and reports within the period from 2005 to 2014 (the time frame of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development), to identify the main commitments and practices. Notwithstanding a lack of national integrated strategies or policies related to education for SD, the results show that the movement made progress at the university level, with good examples and initiatives at several universities. This paper highlights the importance of analyzing the content of plans and reports from higher education institutions (HEIs) when intending to assess and define a country profile for the implementation of sustainability in the educational sector. In addition, this research, conducted in Portugal, may be helpful to understand and value how SD is being applied in the policies and strategies of other European HEIs, as well as to share and encourage best practices and ways of improvement.

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“…Numerous research studies were performed focusing on the sustainability in education and on the education for the continuous sustainable development at universities [40,41]. This research is focused on the identification of expectations and motivational factors of students at a university, specifically on the factors that can influence their decision-making on enrolling, successful studying, and finishing the studies at a university.…”

Section: Education and Sustainabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Motivation of Students at Universities as a Prerequisite of the Education’s Sustainability within the Business Value Generation Context

Kucharčíková¹,

Mičiak²,

Malichová³

et al. 2019

Sustainability

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The aim of this article is to identify substantial factors affecting the motivation of universities’ students to be actively engaged in the education process and define recommendations for the increase of this motivation. As a result, the sustainability of education at universities will be supported, contributing to the increase of the value of human capital of students and, subsequently, to the generation of value for the stakeholder groups in those enterprises where the graduates will be employed. The research hypothesis is focused on the presence of differences in students’ motivation in relation to their gender, study program, and the year of study. To effectively achieve this aim, the analysis, comparison, and the synthesis of the theoretical background was performed, using available sources of secondary data found in the pieces of domestic and foreign professional literature. The pieces of knowledge obtained were supplemented and combined with pieces of information acquired from the questionnaire survey conducted, focusing on the motivation of students of informatics and management at a university in the Slovak Republic. As tools of statistical analysis, tests of independence suitable for nominal categorical data were applied. It was revealed that young people are motivated to study at a university, specifically at the Faculty of Management Science and Informatics, mainly by the prospect of better chances in the labor market, the possibility of getting a higher salary, and higher qualification. The motivation to study at a university in order to improve the opportunity of getting employed in the labor market was more frequently perceived by women. Despite the fact that the level of teaching is considered to be high by almost 50% of the students regardless of their gender, study program, or the year of study, their motivation also stems from their expectations related to their future jobs. The students of informatics expect to have a team of friendly colleagues, delightful and stimulating working conditions, and the opportunity to do meaningful work. Among the students of management, meaningful work was replaced by the opportunity for self-fulfillment. When focusing on other factors, the differences based on the gender, study program, or the year of study were not statistically significant. Based on these findings, specific measures for the faculty’s management were proposed.

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Education for sustainable development in Portuguese universities

Cited by 46 publications

References 33 publications

Are the sustainable development goals being implemented in the Portuguese higher education formative offer?

Are the sustainable development goals being implemented in the Portuguese higher education formative offer?

Sustainability Strategies in Portuguese Higher Education Institutions: Commitments and Practices from Internal Insights

The Motivation of Students at Universities as a Prerequisite of the Education’s Sustainability within the Business Value Generation Context

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